You and your team spend hours looking at brochures, identifying marks on artifacts, and working with law enforcement. Tell us what’s involved in chasing the idol.
It takes years of effort. Leads usually come from friends and volunteers. For example, one of our significant victories was the return of an 8th century bronze Buddha statue stolen from the Nalanda Museum in 1961. It ended up in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and India, however, has since been demanding its return. As early as the 70s, the museum rejected the request due to lack of evidence. We worked with ASI and Economic Advisory Council (EAC) member Sanjeev Sanyal, who helped collect evidence and the Buddha statue was eventually handed over in 2023. Many museums do not disclose provenance (proof of origin), making it difficult to trace missing artifacts.
Why does it take so long for countries to return them to India?
No country willingly returns stolen artefacts because they are often acquired for millions of dollars. Lacking a national art squad or theft registry, despite being a signatory to the 1970 UNESCO Convention against Trafficking in Illicit Cultural Property, India neglected restitution efforts for decades, recovering only 19 objects between 1970 and 2000 – and None between 2000 and 2012. Since 2012, the country has achieved more than 2,000 resettlements. Including the current seizures, the US has returned 578 items. This may seem like a significant number, but it stems from a major arrest of notorious art smuggler Subhash Kapoor in 2011. When his stores in New York were raided, 2,622 items were seized, of which 1,600 were from India. Kapoor’s tracking of the sale of stolen objects to various international museums has also helped India recover many of these artefacts. As far as the delay on the US side is concerned, it is partly due to the Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) insistence on physically inspecting and authenticating each item in storage locations – a costly and unnecessary step. There have also been several improper identifications, causing further delays.
What if an artwork is owned by a private collector rather than a public museum?
Recovery from private collectors is particularly difficult because naming and shaming tactics do not work. Collectors often hide objects for years until public memory fades, only for those objects to reappear in private properties such as swimming pools or gardens.
The arrest of Subhash Kapoor shocked the international art world as it exposed an elaborate network of smugglers, restorers and suppliers who looted temples and less-guarded sites, plaguing collectors and prestigious museums including New York’s The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Used to sell artefacts. But has the arrest stopped antiquities smuggling abroad? Are we doing enough to protect our heritage?
Not necessary. We are losing thousands of art objects every decade. Sadly, Kapoor has also been charged with only four theft-related cases in Tamil Nadu. There is no specific law under the IPC for temple or heritage theft in India. Therefore, these crimes were often prosecuted under IPC section 380 (housebreaking theft) or the Customs Act with minimum punishment. Tamil Nadu amended Section 380 in 1992 to impose stricter penalties for temple theft, but due to a drafting error the maximum penalty was set at only three years. This resulted in Kapoor being sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment, which he has already served. Additionally, a widespread smuggling cartel is active, with key figures such as antique dealer Vallabh Prakash and his son Aditya still at large. In 2022, the EAC submitted a report to the PMO that recommended a national art squad and the fee of an explorer to recover the missing objects. But apart from the signing of the cultural property agreement with the US this year, nothing has changed. Idols are still leaving the country. Countries like Italy hire law firms like those in the US to take auction houses and museums to court. But India lacks the ability to handle international level art crimeThese responsibilities should not fall on ASI alone.
Many Western museums and collectors argue that they are “taking care” of these ancient treasures and should be allowed to keep them without acknowledging colonial plunder. Your take?
This argument is unfair and was never valid. The history is related to its geography, and these artefacts were often illegally removed by colonial powers. British and Dutch rulers took priceless statues in exchange for trivial items like sacks of rice or spectacles. These objects were created not as art but as sacred objects of worship, intended to reside in temples. Today India can take care of them. Additionally, most stolen artworks end up in private collections, often linked to money laundering and tax evasion, making it a major issue for organized crime. my job is to make sure indian art It is not seen as fair game in the international art market. If we do not stop open auction of stolen Indian antiquities, thieves will continue to loot.
What happens to the artefacts when they return to India?
We advocate the return of artefacts to their original temples or sites, which is what has happened in Odisha and Tamil Nadu. When the statues were reinstalled, the entire village celebrated. It was like the homecoming of the gods. Instead of ending up quietly in the Delhi Museum, the artefacts from the archaeological sites should be returned to their respective states as they are the real custodians.
